The trade deadline may bring youth and excitement to the New York Rangers, but for Rick Nash, he must sit out and await a possible trade. He deserves better.
For over a month now New York Rangers fans and current assistant captain Rick Nash have known a separation was coming. The organization asked him to provide a list of 18 teams he would not want to be traded to, all but ending his time with the Rangers.
Thursday night, the Rangers decided it was best to sit Michael Grabner (prior to his trade to the New Jersey Devils) and Nash as a precaution to a possible injury. General Manager Jeff Gorton told Rangers broadcaster John Gianonne of MSG Network that he thought it was best for everyone involved.
“Obviously it the best thing for the player and the organization to take him out of this game [Friday night]. There is nothing imminent and we will continue to do our work to find our deals.
It’s understandable that the organization doesn’t want Nash to suffer any kind of injury prior to a trade, but what does that do to the players and Nash himself? The helpless feeling the players must feel for one another has to be indescribable.
Nash was traded to the Rangers by Columbus, along with Steven Delisle and Columbus’ third-round pick (Pavel Buchnevich) in the 2013 NHL Draft for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and the Rangers’ first-round pick (Kerby Rychel) in the 2013 NHL Draft. At the time it was a blockbuster trade for the Rangers as they acquired what they considered a pure goal scorer.
For six seasons, Nash has battled hard for the Rangers, scoring 42 goals in the 2014-2015 season. He has battled injuries, ridicule from the media and fans, as his scoring has decreased over the years.
One thing you can never take away from Nash, he is the ultimate team player. He keeps coming at you, fast and hard every night. This despite the constant rumors of where he may be traded to on a daily basis since the beginning of February.
The saddest thing that Nash has to deal with is sitting on the sidelines waiting for something to happen. He hasn’t put on his sweater since Feb. 18. On Sunday, it will be a full seven days since he has skated in a game with his teammates. Nash scored his 18th goal of the year in that game, it was probably the last time he scored a goal for the Rangers.
The man who has battled so hard for his team is now a spectator. Does it make any sense to sit a man for about a week because he may get traded or may get hurt playing? He flew out to Montreal on Wednesday then was told he would be pulled from the game. He had to watch as his current team battled the Canadiens with a rookie goalie in net and could do nothing to help. He’s not an injured player, just a healthy one who was forced to sit out and watch. Nash deserved better form this team.
Trade rumors picked up substantially on Saturday night and if a deal is going to be made, for Nash and his family’s sake, I hope it gets done prior to the Jean Ratelle ceremony at MSG tonight.
We currently project the #Bruins as having $491,370 in available cap space, which is the equivalent of a $2,176,067 cap hit.
Rick Nash has a cap hit of $7.8M, which as of tonight translates to $1,761,290 as the amount of cap space needed to acquiring the pending UFA forward.
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 25, 2018
Nash has been the center of attention for long enough the past week. He deserves to move on from the Rangers as a hockey player who gave his all to his team and his fans. Not to be a spectator in a game of wait and see.
